In the first randomized, controlled trial to investigate if supplementation with vitamin D and/or Omega 3 fatty acids reduces the risk of autoimmune disease, Brigham researchers report that Omega 3 fatty acids alone did not reduce risk, but vitamin D or a combination of vitamin D and Omega 3 fatty acids was protective.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies have revolutionized the treatment of advanced cancers, but they have a downside. Rheumatologist Deepak A. Rao, MD, PhD, is part of a study examining the rheumatologic manifestation of checkpoint inhibitor-associated arthritis in patients treated with a specific ICI therapy.

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Rheumatoid Arthritis Sequential Study (BRASS) has played an important role in advancing the study of rheumatic arthritis and development of related therapies. Co-principal investigator Michael E. Weinblatt, MD, discusses what this patient registry has helped make possible.

Brigham experts have taken a molecular-driven, single-cell approach to studying the underpinnings of autoimmune diseases—specifically rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Much of the work by Michael B. Brenner, MD, relies on “disease deconstruction,” an approach grounded in discovery-based research.

Daniel H. Solomon, MD, MPH, and colleagues have examined data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation to identify several risk factors that might form the basis of a clinically useful risk score, which may point to preventive or therapeutic midlife interventions.